Posters on 'Savage' Jihad Going Up in NYC Monday

Federal Judge told MTA it must put up pro-Israel ads that call to support 'civilized' Israel against jihad.

By Gil Ronen

First Publish: 9/21/2012, 2:41 PM

Savages?

Reuters

Pro-Israel posters will go up in 10 New York City subway stations Monday, after a federal judge ruled that the city must put them up.

The ads read: "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad."

New York's MTA transportation agency barred the ads last year, citing "demeaning language." However, a Manhattan federal court judge ruled in July that the MTA violated the First Amendment rights of the group behind the ads, The American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI).

"The MTA is subject to a court-ordered injunction that prohibits application of the MTA's existing no-demeaning ad standard," Donovan said, according to NBC News.

"That standard restricted publication of ads that demean people on the basis of their race, sex, religion, national origin or other group classification. The judge recognized our intention but found our attempt to be constitutionally deficient."

Donovan added that the MTA might consider changing its regulations at a board meeting next week.

Pamela Geller, executive director of the AFDI, said: "I'm glad to see that the freedom of speech has finally prevailed."

"We don't think it's controversial," said Geller, who is executive director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative. "It's truth. The MTA has run anti-Israel ads before and no one had an issue about it. 'Any war on innocent civilians is savagery': What's controversial here?" she said, according to CNN.